The Good Ol’ College Try: MY LITTLE PONY: FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC

Here at Sister Geeks, we all have our fandoms. Some cross over from sister to sister. Others don’t. And even when we share love for a franchise, sometimes one sister’s love outweighs all the others to the point where she is given priority status to report news and write stories on the topic first. (No one touches Harry Potter unless Dani gives the go-ahead!) Each of my sisters loves at least one movie, book, or television franchise that I don’t. Recently, I decided to give one of these a try…

UGH!

Jen P is a Pegasister and her husband is a Brony. I’d never watched My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and decided to give it a shot. After all, she’s the one who convinced me to watch Supernatural and God knows I’ll always love her for it. Because she and I share so much in the way of fandoms (Doctor Who, Supernatural, Arrow, Harry Potter, MCU and more) and because I’ve heard so many good things about the show–not only from her but from pop culture enthusiasts all over the net–and since Netflix had 117 episodes just sitting around waiting to be watched, I decided to jump in and test the waters.

My expectation was to very much like or possibly even love this show. I thought I would be hooked enough to get through the first season or so quickly then slow down my viewing to catch up on the remaining episodes. At the very least, I thought I would end up with a favorite pony to claim–one I could relate to or would enjoy watching more than the others. I absolutely thought I would enjoy my experience with the popular ponies.

Yeah. That didn’t happen.

Because I’m a TV purist, I started at the beginning with the first episodes of season one. I was immediately engaged with the slightly pompous little Twilight Sparkles and her assertion that danger was on the horizon. And I was eager to meet the lineup of ponies that would become her closest friends. After all, friendship is magic! But as the ponies were introduced, I found that I was less than taken with them. Where I’d expected to find them adorable and charming, I was mostly put-off by them. Each of their personalities was so over-the-top that I was more annoyed than intrigued. It’s not their fault, really. They are cartoons after all. But since I know so many adults watch the show, I think I was expecting something more–greater depth or complexity, maybe?

By the end of the second episode, I’d made a decision to give the show two additional episodes to hook me. During the third episode, I wished I hadn’t. I pushed through the third and fourth and was happy to turn the show off. For all the bright colors and speeding around and giggling, MLP only managed to bore me. I didn’t find the cast engaging. I didn’t find the stories complex or interesting. And I didn’t feel the magic. I understand that I started at the beginning and didn’t give the show a very long time to capture me, but I only give books a single page. I think I was generous.

I don’t blame the show, though. I’m not a four-year-old girl and so I’m technically not the program’s target demographic. I think it was a situation where the hype outshone the actual product. Remember, I wanted to like the show and I expected to become totally enamored with it. I just couldn’t seem to muster it.

I can still appreciate the love some people have for the show, though. And I’m absolutely inclined to agree with its sentiment. Friendship is totally magic. My Sister Geeks prove that all the time. However, for me, this show fell short of creating the spark that would make it magic to me.

Have you watched My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic? Are you a Pegasister or Brony? Take to the comments section and tell me what you love about it. If you don’t love it, tell me what you don’t like or why you haven’t checked it out yet. And don’t forget to head over and take a look at the 10 Reasons Jen P loves this show.

I can’t help it, I love My Little Pony. I guess I’m a pegasister, although I’ve never heard the term, only bronies. My hubby has watched it with me, and although it’s not his favorite show on tv, he never complains when it’s on, and gets very interested in the plots. He’s also labelled each pony as someone he knows. Apparently, my OCD makes me a perfect match for Twilight. Even though I disagreed with this at first, I have come to realize that her endless lists, her general inability to accept that sometimes things don’t work out as planned, and several other traits are totally me. Before I accepted this, I did find myself blushing at certain parts convinced DH would point out the similarities lol. Also, John DeLance as Discord was perfect casting. Who can honestly say that Q isn’t Discord?? Lol You haven’t gotten far enough into the show to really get to know the background characters, but one of them is Doctor Whooves. He always looks different, but his cutie mark is a sand timer in every version of himself. It’s kind of cool. I think you know where that goes 🙂 there is one episode in particular whew he is heavily represented, and it’s a good giggle for us fans: S5 E9, Slice of Life.

Ha! I think it’s awesome that you are basically Twilight Sparkles. She’s definitely a pony that gets things done! I have heard a lot about Doctor Whooves and a lot of other awesome pop culture references on the show. You’re right that I just didn’t get very far into it. Unfortunately, I found I didn’t like it as well as I thought I would. But I think my son, who is 4, may be on the cusp of becoming a junior brony. He came across some videos from the show on Kids YouTube recently and it looks like he may be hooked. So it’s possible that there may still be a lot of MLP in my future. Haha!

Just don’t let him get into the new Strawberry Shortcake. I loved the show as a baby, but the new version, although entertaining, involves a considerable amount of nerve-bursting giggling.

Boo from “Monster’s Inc.” Giggled as a form of speech for the majority of the movie. Her giggle was absolutely adorable, and it became one of my favorite movies because of it. It was light-hearted, childish glee that, IMHO, was infectious.

Strawberry Shortcake is a whole different monster. It’s that irritating chortling that little girls do when they’re together… You know the one that NEVER ends, grates on your nerves, and makes you want to chase them down the street with a broom? That kind. But there’s like 6 character, and they all burst into giggles simultaneously and for no apparent reason, and every one of them have irritating giggles.

I guess it’s the difference between a toddler giggling, and a horde of 9 year olds. The first season was annoying, but within range of toleration to judge the show as something I wouldn’t mind watching. Second season on, they giggled about 6x/30 mins. Now, it’s to the point where if I walk in, I don’t mind the show for about 45 seconds and then they giggle for 20 and my eyeball is trying to leap out of its socket.

Long story short: MLP isn’t the worst show he could like, he could like Strawberry Shortcake, and I’m pretty sure a shoe would go thru the TV before you let him watch a second episode lol

My family’s experience with MLP was very similar to yours, I watched it with my daughter and became hooked, hubby got sucked in a few times, and now he gets annoyed when we watch episodes without him! We all dressed up as ponies for Pensacon last year, and I intend to up my cosplay game to a steampunk Rainbow Dash this year. It’s fun you’ve found a pony to represent you! I love too many to choose and my hubs might be too afraid to delegate me one. LOL. But my faves are Celestia, DJ Pon3, and Sunset Shimmer. We should talk pony in the future! Other pegasisters are hard to come by.